Learning about the real facts of life online

A side effect of surfing online is that you stumble across plenty of interesting stuff. But thanks to the surfeit of PR material masquerading as content, it is sometimes difficult to get the true picture. Below are some useful resources I found in that regard.

1. IIM tips/NIT tips/ CA tips-a new fad has sprung up on Facebook where groups are made ending with 'tips' that give tongue in cheek one liners about anything under the sun, right from IIMs to Gujjus. This community is growing by the day, and chances are you will get information on any profession/aspect of life on that soon
2. Memes:- Many sites have memes which are again one liners, mostly on communities but often on other things as well. Sites like tumblr are a classic example of this.
3. Jokes: They say there is no smoke without fire. Hence, even the 'racy' jokes have a factum of truth, and can be very illuminating on the profession
4. Glassdoor:-This is often more reliable than Vault Guides in my view, because people can safely state even negative aspects online, which is not possible always in standard publications.
5. Quotable Quotes:-Sites like brainyquotes have a very rich collection of quotes online, and most are quite insightful
6. Classics:- Thanks to Project Gutenburg and other sites, one can read classics online for free(even the Kindle Store has free classics for Kindle). They say that the past repeats itself, so reading classic novels can give deja-vu when those situations are unfolding around you.
7. Anonymous blogs:-For example, a famous finance blog-the Eipcurean Dealmaker has an anonymous writer who frankly writes about the industry, unafraid of the consequences on his day-job. This is a luxury which only anonymity confers.  (http://epicureandealmaker.blogspot.com/)
8. Comment section on certain sites:-Often, the comments section is entire spam as in Rediff and TOI, but on more reputed forums like Economist/HBR/FT, the quality is comments is great and often surpasses the result of the post itself. And many commentors supplement their views with real life examples.